[noknok23]

The price in China is about 170 euro right now, so I have to say no chance at anything below 100, especially once you look at the specs.

Smartwatch processor, 800mb of ram, low res screen, output barely stronger than fiio m3... It looks a bit sad next to Hiby R3 (230 euro and much nicer spec/design imo)

 

[lantian]

Smartwatch processor, 800mb of ram, low res screen, output barely stronger than fiio m3... It looks a bit sad next to Hiby R3 (230 euro and much nicer spec/design imo)

This has a different target audience, Hibby r3 will compete with x3 3rd gen, though having the disadvantage of higher price. The battery life will be 20h according to fiio, not a lot of things that come close to that, otherwise design is a matter of taste.

 

[Deftone]

This is Fiios nicest looking player by a mile, shame it’s only a budget offering.

 

[CactusPete23]

Power looks Ok for Efficient IEMs.
Like that it has APTX-HD.
Not even 1GB of RAM if I'm reading correctly?
Processor should be fast enough for an Audio Player Only.
Would like to see some reviews.

 

[fish1050]

Seems very much a Sony A40 competitor. Many of the same features but you seem to trade more power for less battery life. Interesting if the M7 transmits FM over BT as the Sony does not. Of course we also need to see which sounds better.

As soon as I saw the specs I immediately thought of the A45 but obviously with a lower budget design. I think Fiio realized that going head to head with the A45 would be a mistake but going with similar features at cheaper price could work. Now they just need to learn from the M3 and X1-II releases and not have it be full of bugs on first release. Given the A45 is selling for $218 US I think Fiio needs to sell for no more than $150.00 US to stand a chance and even then that might be to high. Should be interesting how it works out for Fiio.

 

[jant71]

Yeah, well last I saw(don't know if it changed since) the price was said to be, conveniently an also similar $220. I agree $149 would be nice.

 

[fish1050]

Yeah, well last I saw(don't know if it changed since) the price was said to be, conveniently an also similar $220. I agree $149 would be nice.

If Fiio plans to sell it at around the same price as the A45 it once again demonstrates how clueless Fiio is about their competition. I mean Sony, Cayin and Shanling beat the Fiio DAP's soundly with their competing DAP's already available and now Fiio will be trounced trying to compete with the A45 head to head. I suspect the M7 will either go the way of the M3 or we will see some significant discounts on the M7 pretty quickly. Either way Fiio DAP's still don't warrant consideration for me at least given what other manufacturers have to offer.

 

[Zachik]

If Fiio plans to sell it at around the same price as the A45 it once again demonstrates how clueless Fiio is about their competition. I mean Sony, Cayin and Shanling beat the Fiio DAP's soundly with their competing DAP's already available and now Fiio will be trounced trying to compete with the A45 head to head. I suspect the M7 will either go the way of the M3 or we will see some significant discounts on the M7 pretty quickly. Either way Fiio DAP's still don't warrant consideration for me at least given what other manufacturers have to offer.

I played VERY briefly with the FiiO M7 and Sony A45 during CanJam NYC (3 weeks ago).
The Sony is definitely superior! No question. For the same price point - I will not even consider FiiO M7.
The ONLY con for the Sony (again, playing with it for 5-10 minutes) is the proprietary connector... Sony! Would you stop with that nonsense?!?! Have you heard of USB (micro or USB-C)?!

 

[fish1050]

I played VERY briefly with the FiiO M7 and Sony A45 during CanJam NYC (3 weeks ago).
The Sony is definitely superior! No question. For the same price point - I will not even consider FiiO M7.
The ONLY con for the Sony (again, playing with it for 5-10 minutes) is the proprietary connector... Sony! Would you stop with that nonsense?!?! Have you heard of USB (micro or USB-C)?!

Given Sony's unique design and the fact their DAP's don't have DAC chips as output is fed directly from the Amp section they may not be able to use standard USB connectors. I have to believe Sony would opt for a more capable connector option if they could to compete better with the DAP's from other manufacturers.

 

[xLoud]

It looks like just a copy of Cayin N5II

 

[Arghavan]

It looks like just a copy of Cayin N5II

Which is a copy of AK100/120

 

[Palash]

I played VERY briefly with the FiiO M7 and Sony A45 during CanJam NYC (3 weeks ago).
The Sony is definitely superior! No question. For the same price point - I will not even consider FiiO M7.
The ONLY con for the Sony (again, playing with it for 5-10 minutes) is the proprietary connector... Sony! Would you stop with that nonsense?!?! Have you heard of USB (micro or USB-C)?!

is there any 2.5 mm balanced output ?

 

[Zachik]

As far as I can remember - no! Only 3.5mm SE.

 

[bruce1967]

As soon as I saw the specs I immediately thought of the A45 but obviously with a lower budget design. I think Fiio realized that going head to head with the A45 would be a mistake but going with similar features at cheaper price could work. Now they just need to learn from the M3 and X1-II releases and not have it be full of bugs on first release. Given the A45 is selling for $218 US I think Fiio needs to sell for no more than $150.00 US to stand a chance and even then that might be to high. Should be interesting how it works out for Fiio.

Might cost a lot more than $150 US with the tariffs on Chinese imports but that would't apply to the Canadian price. It looks like an interesting DAP..maybe a good replacement for my X1II.

 

[cleg]

I wish one day Sony will release budget DAP that not only looks good, but also sounds at least average. Sony’s A35 was probably the biggest disappointment in my personal audio life. Great build, normal (but not perfect) UX, and totally flat, lifeless and synthetic sound.
Even FiiO’s M3 sounded better, so I think in terms of SQ M7 won’t be close to Sony…